find sth. or sb. by looking hard 找出，搜寻出
e.g. He managed to seek out his friend in the crowd. 他设法在人群中找出了自己的朋友。
3. “How graceful, hoe benign, is solitude,” he wrote. (Para. 4) benign a. kind and gentle 善良的，慈祥的 e.g.
She is beautiful and benign and the embodiment of all the finest qualities of a loyal and loving wife. 她非常漂亮温柔，体现了一位忠贞可 爱的妻子的全部美德。
4. …he calls the girls to come back and write it down while he dictates. (Para. 6) dictate v. speak sth. aloud for another person or for a machine to record the words said 听写，口授 e.g. She spent the morning dictating letters to her secretary. 她花了一上午向她的秘书口述信件。
Book 4 Unit 5
Choose to Be Alone on Purpose
Choose to Be Alone on Purpose
Background Information Watch and Discuss Structure Analysis Detailed Study of the Text Exercises
William Wordsworth
English poet (1770—1850). Orphaned at 13, Wordsworth attended Cambridge Univ., but remained rootless and virtually penniless until 1795, when a legacy made possible a reunion with his sister D. Wordsworth. He became friends with S. T. Coleridge, with whom he wrote Lyrical Ballads (1798), the collection often considered to have launched the English Romantic Movement. In 1843 he became England's poet laureate. He is regarded as the central figure in the initiation of English Romanticism.
Women in US living alone
1. Why are there more and more American women choosing to be alone? How to explain this phenomenon?
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2.
Main idea of the text ?
6. The more modest and humble we feel, the more we suffer from solitude. (Para. 10) humble adj. having a low opinion of oneself 谦逊的，谦虚的 e.g. I’m your humble He strikes me as a very humble person. servant. 他的谦虚给我留下了深刻的印象。 e.g. I do quite a humble job at the hospital. 我在医院从事很普通的工作。
e.g. We have found a meeting–place that will serve our purpose. 我们找到了一个很合适的会址。
2. They all speak highly of themselves for seeking it out, …(Para. 3) seek out
5. The larger the ego, the less the need for other egos around. (Para. 10) ego
n. one’s idea or opinion of oneself, or a great feeling of one’s own importance and trusted, shifty圆滑
e.g. He's as slippery as an eel — you can never get a straight answer out of him. 他像鳝鱼般难以捉摸——你永远不可能从他口里得 到直接的回答。
9. …and observations and opinions that backs up and chokes us. (Para. 12) choke v. 1）become or make sb. Become unable to speak 说不出话来 e.g. The surprise farewell party left them all choked up. 这一意外的告别聚会令他们激动得说不出话来。 e.g. She was choked with anger. 她气得说不出话来。
7. …you can stretch out your soul… (Para. 11) stretch out lengthen sth. by pulling; cause to reach forward, as with the hands 拉长，伸长，伸出 e.g. He stretched out on the grass. 他手脚伸开着躺在草地上。
扩展 egoism: n.自我主义；自私；利己 egoist: n.自私自利者；自我中心者 egoistic(al): a.自私自利的；利己主义的 ego-trip: n.(俚）以自我为中心的活动 e.g.
Her life is just one big ego-trip.
她的一生都是以自我为中心的。
John Milton
English poet (1608—1674). Milton attended Cambridge University (1625—1632), where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English. His epic masterpieces include Paradise Lost (1667) , Paradise Regained (1671), an epic in which Christ overcomes Satan the tempter, and Samson Agonistes (1671) considered second only to W. Shakespeare in the history of English-language poetry, Milton had an immense influence on later literature.
The reading passage focuses on a social phenomenon — choosing to be alone on purpose. The passage mainly tells us: what living alone is, what people think of living alone, who prefer living alone, the author’s comments on living alone and what he advises for living in solitude.
e.g. That man has got such an enormous ego — I've never known anyone so full of themselves. 那个人非常自负，我从来没有见过 那么以自我为中心的人。 e.g. I'm glad she got the job — she needed something to boost her ego. 我很高兴她得到了那份工作——她需要那份工作来 增强她的自尊心。
扩展
e.g. She doesn’t have all the qualifications but I think we should stretch a point in her favour. 她并非全部合格，但我认为我们可以为她 放开一些限制。 stretch one’s legs 去散步
Part Ⅳ (paras. 11-16)
1. … to be alone on purpose, … (Para. 2) on purpose purposely 故意的 e.g. She did it on purpose, of course. 她当然是故意那样做的。
扩展
e.g. It’s evident that she spoke to the purpose at the meeting. 她在会上的发言很中肯，这是很明显的。
Henry David Thoreau
(1817—1862) U.S. thinker, essayist, and naturalist. Born in Concord, Mass, he graduated from Harvard University and taught school for several years before deciding to become a poet of nature. In the years 1845—1847, to demonstrate how satisfying a simple life could be, he lived in a hut beside Concord's Walden Pond; essays recording his daily life were assembled for his masterwork, Walden (1854).